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MICHIGAN
Michigan is home to about 100,000
Jews, comprising a little over 1% of the
electorate, according to the American
Jewish Population Project at Brandeis.
More than 60% of Jews in Michigan
are Democrats.
But Michigan also has 200,000
Muslim voters, according to
EmgageUSA, an organization
dedicated to mobilizing Muslim
American voters, as well as more
than 160,000 residents of Arab
ancestry, according to the U.S.
Census — more than any other state
outside of California.
More than 85% of Muslim
voters voted Democratic in the last
presidential election nationwide. But
in Michigan’s Democratic primaries
this year, at least 100,000 Democrats
cast “uncommitted” ballots. Those
votes were part of a protest movement
waged by Muslim, Arab American
and other voters in a number of states
against the Biden administration’s
support for Israel in its war with
Hamas.
Whether those uncommitted voters
will stay home in November or vote
for Trump remains to be seen. Either
way, they could influence the outcome
of Michigan’s presidential race. Biden
won the state in 2020 by 154,000
votes. In 2016, Trump became the first
Republican to carry Michigan since
1988.
Thirty uncommitted delegates
attended the Democratic National
Convention in Chicago. They
unsuccessfully sought to have a
Palestinian speaker at the event and at
one point, staged a sit-in in protest.
A political action committee began
running ads in September in Michigan
trumpeting the fact that Harris’
husband, Doug Emhoff, is Jewish. The
ads are apparently designed to stoke
anti-Israel sentiment among Muslim
and Arab voters and suppress their
votes for the Democratic ticket.
Last year, the state’s Jewish attorney
general Dana Nessel was among
several Jewish public officials in
Michigan targeted by a man who
made death threats.
In late October, Democrats held two
events featuring Second Gentleman
Doug Emhoff in order to woo Jewish
voters and convince them that Harris
is a pro-Israel stalwart, according
to the JTA, which also reported
that a PAC associated with Trump’s
billionaire ally Elon Musk had put up
billboards just a few miles away from
the Emhoff campaign stop, in Detroit
suburbs with large Arab and Muslim
populations, designed to look like
Harris ads portraying her as pro-Israel.
“They will always support Israel
and our Jewish communities,
” one
billboard reads, next to the faces of
Harris and Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Jewish
Senate candidate, superimposed over
the Israeli flag.
The ad’s goal is to alienate voters
who would back Harris but who
oppose her on Israel, and the same
PAC has sent mailers to Jewish voters
calling Harris anti-Israel.
“She has prioritized Israel her whole
career,
” Emhoff said about Harris
during his speech at the Jewish Voters
for Harris-Walz event, in front of a
backdrop of his wife’s name written
in Hebrew. “I promise you that she’s
deeply invested in the security of
Israel and in the protection of Jewish
people.
”
NEVADA
Jews made up 3% of Nevada voters in
the last presidential election, according
to exit poll data, and 75% of those
41,000 voters picked Biden over
Trump in 2020. Biden won the Nevada
count by around 33,000 votes, so this
is another race where every Jewish
vote is potentially critical to the
outcome.
Nevada’s U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, a
Democrat who’s up for reelection,
could help turn out the Jewish blue
vote. She’s currently the only female
Jewish member of the Senate, a
big supporter of Israel, a former
synagogue president and founder of
the Senate’s Bipartisan Task Force
for Combating Antisemitism. She’s
got a substantial lead in the polls
over her Republican opponent, and
Democrats know that every one of
the 34 U.S. Senate seats up for grabs
in this election is critical to their party
maintaining control of that chamber.
NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina’s 49,000 Jews make up
just 0.5% of the electorate, according
to Jewish Heritage North Carolina,
but Jewish concerns are making news
in the state this year, thanks to the
gubernatorial race between a Jewish
Democrat, state Attorney General Josh
Stein, and his Republican opponent,
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.
Stein, who is leading Robinson in
the latest polls, was the first Jewish
candidate to win a statewide race
when he became attorney general,
and he would be the state’s first Jewish
governor if he wins this one. Robinson
would be the state’s first Black
governor.
Although Robinson has denied
accusations of antisemitism, he’s
been called out as a Holocaust denier
and for indulging in antisemitic
tropes. He used the word “hogwash”
to describe the Holocaust, and he
endorsed a podcast host’s claim that
Jewish bankers are among the “Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
” He also
said an “agnostic Jew” in Hollywood
made the Black Panther film to “pull
the shekels out of your Schvartze
pockets.
”
Israel is also an issue in North
Carolina. More than 88,000
Democrats, or 12% of party mem-
bers, voted “no preference” in the
Democratic presidential primary
Georgia state Rep. Esther Panitch, center.
CHERYL DORCHINSKY
ANDREW LAPIN/JTA
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff stumps for Kamala Harris at an event for Jewish
voters in suburban Detroit, Oct. 20, 2024.